'Dogs' On Mars?: NASA Training Robo Dog For Red Planet Mission
NASA is training a dog-shaped robot named LASSIE-M for missions on Mars. The goal of NASA researchers is to develop a robot that can scale rocky or sandy terrain, both of which can be hazardous to a rover.
New Mexico: US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is training a dog-shaped robot for missions on Mars. The robo dog is named LASSIE-M, which stands for 'Legged Autonomous Surface Science In Analogue Environments for Mars'.
Researchers from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston ventured to New Mexico’s White Sands National Park in August to train LASSIE-M.
Regarding its robo dog, NASA said, “Motors in the robot’s legs measure physical properties of the surface that, when combined with other data, lets LASSIE-M shift gait as it encounters terrain that is softer, looser, or crustier — variations often indicative of scientifically interesting changes.”
The goal of NASA researchers is to develop a robot that can scale rocky or sandy terrain, both of which can be hazardous to a rover.
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Drones Tested In Death Valley
A team of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) also tested three research drones in Mars-like conditions on Earth in California’s Death Valley National Park and the Mojave Desert earlier this year.
A picture shared by the NASA showed JPL researchers gathered under a pop-up tent in Death Valley National Park while monitoring the performance of a research drone equipped with navigation software for Mars. Temperature reached as high as 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius) in the barren desert dunes as the researchers tested the drones.
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The NASA stated that the test campaign resulted in useful findings, including how different camera filters help the drones track the ground and how new algorithms can guide them to safely land in cluttered terrain like Mars.
